Elections for the office of Missouri State Senate were held in Missouri on November 2, 2010. The signature-filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in these elections was March 30, 2010 and the primary election day was on August 3, 2010.

Half of the senate is up for re-election every two years. State senators are term limited to two four-year terms.

Incumbents ran in 7 out of the 17 districts up for re-election. These include districts # 2, 4, 10, 12, 16, 18 and 22. In the remaining 10 districts, every incumbent is ineligible to run because of term limits.

Campaign contributions

This chart shows how many candidates ran for state senate in Missouri in past years and the cumulative amount of campaign contributions in state senate races, including contributions in both primary and general election contests. All figures come from Follow The Money.[1]

Year

Number of candidates

Total contributions

2008

37

$8,190,841

2006

44

$7,762,910

2004

55

$6,618,265

2002

49

$6,057,453

Incumbency

Unopposed incumbents

Only one incumbent (14%), Republican Brad Lager, faced no competition in the November 2 general election and is thus, barring unforeseen circumstances, guaranteed re-election in November.

Primary challenges

Only 3 incumbents (42.8%) faced competition in the August 3 primary. All 3 incumbents (2 Democrats, 1 Republican) won their primaries:

Qualifications

Resident of the district which he is chosen to represent for 1 year before election

Is not delinquent in the payment of any state income taxes, personal property taxes, real property taxes on the place of residence as stated in the declaration of candidacy

is not a past or present corporate officer of any fee office that owes any taxes to the state.

Has not been found guilty of or pled guilty to a felony or misdemeanor under the federal laws of the United States of America.

Has not been convicted of or found guilty of or pled guilty to a felony under the laws of Missouri.

In addition to any other penalties provided by law, no person may file for any office in a subsequent election until he or the treasurer of his existing candidate committee has filed all required campaign disclosure reports for all prior elections.

List of candidates

Partisan dominance in state senates heading into the 2010 state legislative elections